


And the Beat Goes On

by Xachyn



Category: The Outer Worlds (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Modern AU, Sort of a punk Felix, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Youth Pastor Max, just a lot of fluff please see your dentist after this, kids playing matchmaker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 20:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21575053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xachyn/pseuds/Xachyn
Summary: “I don’t know what to tell you,” Felix exhaled slowly and vaguely at Priest-man’s direction, “Maybe you’re just not that good at your job?”Hot Priest-man scowled, stepping close into his space, giving Felix a delightful whiff of old paper and masculine musk.“Leave my kids alone,” Priest-man growled. Felix watched as his Adam’s apple throbbed and wondered what he would sound like growling other things, because he’s never had a good sense for self-preservation and he’s not about to start now.Modern AU with Max as a Youth Pastor shepherding a dozen teenage boys around.
Relationships: Maximillian DeSoto/Felix Millstone
Comments: 9
Kudos: 72





	And the Beat Goes On

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: I've never been a Christian and I have no idea what youth pastors do actually and all my experience with them is from Joseph Christiansen in Dream Daddy so I've taken the liberty of assuming they're essentially Daddy-os pseudo adopting like a million at-risk kids. Don't @ me on this please. Also it's like 5am on a work day what is wrong with me
> 
> Inspired by [this post](https://sunflower-boy.tumblr.com/post/189228171391/vicar-max-but-hes-a-youth-pastor-instead)
> 
> What can I say, I'm easily influenced.

Felix knew he was not always the brightest bulb in the toolbox, but he had enough awareness to know of things that he had or had not done. He’s also relatively sure that for all the things that he was willing to do, stuff that was _bad_ or _immoral_ were probably not up there on that list.

And therefore, Felix soundly concluded, that it was unfair for this ridiculously hot priest to come up to him and tell him off for being a ‘bad influence’, since he was doing nothing but minding his own business during his smoke break.

“I have kids that I have painstakingly cultivated into good exemplars for society – hardworking, honest, diligent youth – all of them now yammering non-stop about what _Felix_ had to say and how _Felix wouldn’t do that_ ,” the unreasonably handsome priest glared at him as Felix took a long drag from his cigarette.

It’s raining, loud and deafening against the metal shelter they were both standing under, drowning out the sounds of the busy market inside. Felix only got two smoke breaks a day, and this guy was kind of putting a damper on things, even if he made for fantastic eye-candy.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Felix exhaled slowly and vaguely at Priest-man’s direction, “Maybe you’re just not that good at your job?”

He honestly had no idea what the other guy was complaining about, but he didn’t have a mind to start grovelling at his feet the way his foreman expected. Or a mind to ask for more information, really. It’s just the way Priest-man talked, how it ticked Felix off with that holier-than-thou, better-than-you bougie manner of speech.

Hot Priest-man scowled, stepping close into his space, giving Felix a delightful whiff of old paper and masculine musk. 

“Leave my kids alone,” Priest-man growled. Felix watched as his Adam’s apple throbbed and wondered what he would sound like growling other things, because he’s never had a good sense for self-preservation and he’s not about to start now. 

Felix glared in response, still not quite sure who Priest-man was talking about – he’s only been in this town for three weeks, after all, and hardly had time to meet anyone – and the two of them stayed like that for a bit, locked in this weird stance of some pseudo eye-fucking contest until a loud nasally yell interrupted them.

“Millstone! Back to work!”

Felix rolled his eyes, stubbing his cigarette into the ashtray. “You heard the man,” he shrugged, fully aware of the way Priest-man’s eyes continued to bore him into him as he sauntered off. And maybe, Felix thought as he returned to the endless amounts of crates that needed shoving around, the best revenge he could have against that stupid sexy Priest-man was to use him as wank material for the night. Hah! That’ll teach him.

\---

He’s not expecting to run into Hot Priest-man again, but he did. It’s a late Tuesday afternoon, a rare day off from his foreman’s incessant bitching, so he’d taken to strolling around the neighbourhood looking for a place to just hang back and watch a good game of tossball.

Halcyon is a strange town that he’s still getting used to. The streets seemed more complex than they really need to be, and somewhere in his meanderings he ended outside a tossball field with some amateur game going on, so he shrugged to himself and thought, _well, why not_ , and wandered in.

There’s a team dressed in pale blues up against some others in red, and pale blue team was not playing very well. He leaned against the fence behind the bannisters, wincing as the blue team’s hacker made a bad swing. The whistle sounded for half-time, and the teams dispersed, trudging out slowly.

“Hey, it’s Felix!” Someone shouted, and as Felix looked over, he saw a bunch of teens that he met a couple weeks back while he was moving in. He’s quickly flooded with a whole swarm of them, all dressed in the same pale blue jerseys. He hoped he remembered all their names.

“Hey guys,” he said, shifting the cigarette around in his mouth, “What’s up?”

“It’s our team playing,” Edgar, one of the bolder boys said, “We’re not doing all that great. Felix, you should show us how a real overhand goal looks like!” The other boys echoed cheerfully.

“Sure, hold this” he said, plucking the cigarette from his lips and swapping it for the tossball stick in Edgar’s hand. “Got a ball? Right, so what you’ve got to do here, see, is really put your back into it. You’re swinging with your hands, and that’s not how you make it really go!”

Felix climbed over the bannister and walked out on to the ground. It felt nice to be back on a tossball field, and one of the boys cheered. Felix laughed, pitching the ball upwards and giving it a good swing from his waist up. The ball sailed across the length of the field to an eruption of applause from the boys.

He returned to them with a bounce in his step, only to spot Hot Priest-man glaring at him from behind their beaming expressions of awe. The whistle sounded again, so he returned the tossball stick to Edgar who ran off with his teammates, shouting about how _Max had taken the cigarette, sorry!_

Felix was left alone with Hot Priest-man, who was currently viciously stubbing the cigarette out into a can, still shooting angry looks at him.

“Please do not give the children cigarettes.”

Felix shrugged, “Alright Maxy. That’s your name, right?”

“Absolutely fucking not.” Not-Maxy scowled, and Felix laughed. The way his deep low voice swore so smoothly despite the clerical shirt and collar he wore was an absolute riot.

A bell sounded for a successful goal, and the field erupted into enthusiastic whopping. One of the kids, Desmond, waved eagerly at him, “Look Felix, I did it!”

Felix shot him a thumbs up, and found Hot Priest-man still scowling at him. Felix glared in response.

“What’s your problem, man?”

“The children like you,” Hot Priest-man said with little hiding the disdain on his tongue, “And I abhor the idea of them getting involved with a miscreant of dubious morals.”

Felix had no idea what he was on about, so he scoffed. “I’m not a…” he waved his hand around, “that. You don’t even know me. You’re just being judgy. For nothing.” Felix squinted at him. “Why are you so judgy? Is this a church thing?”

Hot Priest-man continued glaring, but then his gaze softened for a moment and he sighed.

“No, you are right. It was unworthy of me,” Hot Priest-man said, and Felix blinked from surprise, “I was just worried when my kids became obsessed with this man from a devil-worshipping biker gang.”

“Okay first of all, I’m not in a biker gang, I have just one bike that I ride _alone_ to buy groceries. Secondly, devil-worshipping?”

“They said you owned a large assortment of animal skulls.”

“Oh, that,” Felix laughed, “That’s just my friend’s idea of a going-away gift. She’s a _licensed_ animal hunter who thought I could use some company in this new town.”

Hot Priest-man looked almost sheepish, “I might have been too quick to judge then. It seems I owe you an apology.”

It’s like whiplash, how Priest-man had taken a full hundred-eighty degree there, but Felix was not about to start questioning it.

“Yeah, okay,” Felix said, casting his eyes back on the field, “So… you some kind of priest?”

“A youth pastor,” he corrected, “And to properly introduce myself, I am Maximillian DeSoto, though most call me Max.”

“I’m Felix. Millstone. Felix Millstone.” Felix offered.

“So I’ve heard,” Pastor Max said, and their conversation was interrupted when the pale blue team scored another goal. 

\---

Still, despite their best efforts, the Halcyon Rams, as Max informed him, lost the game.

“It was a good try,” Felix said, ruffling Edgar’s hair as the boy pouted, “You’ll get them next time.”

“You should come with us,” William said eagerly from beside Edgar, “We always go to Rizzo’s after a game. Right, Max?”

And that was how Felix found himself sitting in a tiny booth at a local diner, squashed up against Hot Pastor Max while a boisterous bunch of a dozen teenage boys hollered around them and damn it if Felix’s day hadn’t just taken a turn for the bizarre.

“You mentioned you were new to Halcyon,” Max asked, “Where were you from previously?”

Felix distinctively remembered feeling hungry at the tossball field, but somehow all that hunger has since fled him as he shifted under the laser-focus attention Max seemed to be giving him.

“A port town called Groundbreaker, if you’ve heard of it. Just east of here. I grew up there, but I thought I could use a change of environment,” His thigh is pressed up against Max’s and their arms keep brushing but he can’t pull away because there’s a kid to his right and a kid on Max’s other side and _why are there so many kids?_

Max smiled, and if Felix thought Max had peaked in attractiveness at some point in their past interactions he was proven wrong now.

“I hope you find Halcyon to your liking. Are you well settled?”

“Yeah, and it’s all thanks to your kids. They really did me a huge favour the other day – I was out on the roadside with several dozen boxes, it was definitely about to rain, and Edgar, I think, led them over and offered to help me bring them in.”

“They’re good kids.” Max affirmed with pride, and for a brief moment, they ignored the fact that Shannon and Desmond were currently flinging spoonfuls of mashed potatoes at one another.

“I can see why you’re so proud of them,” Felix said eventually when Max gave up the pretence and leaned over to pull the spoons from the two boys, “You’ve taught them well.”

“Yeah, Max is great,” William said from beside him, grinning around a mouthful of carrot sticks, “Helped me and Edgar sneak out for a punk-rock concert on a weeknight once.”

“William, please don’t talk with your mouth full,” Max said with exasperation, “And it would be Edgar and I. Not me and Edgar.”

William swallowed his food obediently, “Bit of a stiff though, so good luck with him,” William remarked cheerily, patting Felix on the shoulder before returning his attention to Samson and resuming their debate on tossball players.

Max simply sighed.

“A punk-rock concert?” Felix asked in surprise, smirking, “That doesn’t sound very churchy. Are you secretly a cool pastor?”

Max shrugged with a wry smile, “I thought they deserved a break for good behaviour. I also happen to be acquainted with the members of Hermit Dust, and I know them to be of wonderful moral character.”

“Like helping grandmothers across the road and saving kittens from trees?”

“Exactly,” Max laughed, and Felix couldn’t tell if Max was having him on or not.

“Well, at least their taste is good,” Felix said approvingly, and Max smiled again before turning to frown at one of the kids.

It’s with some weird sense of longing that he watched Max remind James to finish his broccoli, Michael to wipe his mouth after eating, and for Alex to put his phone away and to finish his food. It’s sweet, the way Max managed to give every single one of them his attention, and yet somehow doing it without pulling away from Felix entirely.

“You’re good with them.” Felix said, feeling admiration and something else settling in his chest, “Must be nice having someone look out for them like that.”

Max raised an eyebrow, “Did you not?”

“Oh, no,” Felix prodded at a carrot stick, pushing it around his plate with a fork, “I was an orphan, never met Mr and Mrs Millstone, you know?”

“I see,” Max said. The conversation lulled for a moment, and Felix had a snarky remark at the ready to chase away any sort of pity, but then, “Are you doing anything this Saturday?”

Felix’s heart jumped. Was Max maybe asking him out? “Uhm, no. No. No, I am not.”

“The Halcyon Rams will be running a bake sale to raise funds for the church. I think you might find it enjoyable.”

 _Oh, duh._ “Yeah sure,” he nodded, and even though it wasn’t quite what he expected, he’s happy to be invited anyway, “I’ll be there.”

Max beamed, and somehow it was okay.

\---

The church grounds were lively, with throngs of people hanging around the long tented space. It’s Shannon that spotted him first, announcing with a loud holler that Felix had arrived.

“You made it,” Max said, as if with some semblance of disbelief, coming up to him as Felix clambered off his bike. He’s dressed in an unfairly tight shirt that highlighted every line of muscle on his body and honestly, that had to be some kind of next level unsaintliness.

“I promised,” Felix reminded him as he turned off the bike, pointedly not looking at Max’s torso. “And I don’t break promises.”

Desmond was already strolling up to them, holding a large tray stacked with brown squares. “Brownies? They won’t get you into heaven, but it’s the next best thing! Only a dollar a piece!”

“Desmond, have you seen Benjamin?” Max said, squinting over at the crowd inside the tent.

“Nope. Haven’t seen him all day.”

Max frowned. “That’s not like him. Benjamin is typically the more punctual of the group.”

“Maybe he’s still at home? He said his dad was back.”

“ _Ah_.” Max’s frown steeled icily, “Desmond, could you call Edgar over?”

“Sure thing. EDGAAAAR!!!” Desmond sauntered off, yelling at the top of his voice. Edgar popped up a moment later.

“You called?” Edgar said, chewing on a chocolate cookie, “Hey Felix! Have you tried our _sinfully_ chocolatey cookies yet? They’re more chocolate than cookie, so I guess that makes them cookie chocolates.”

Max paused, “Is that a cookie for the bake sale?”

“No?” Edgar lied, and Max raised an eyebrow, “Yes? I’ll put a dollar in the jar, okay? I just got hungry.”

Max sighed. “Very well. Would you watch the stand for a moment? I will be back, once I’ve looked in on Benjamin.”

“No problem-o, leave it to me-o!” Edgar bounded off, and Max turned his attention to Felix.

“Please excuse me for a moment, I’ve got to-“

“Look in on Benjamin, yeah, I heard. Let’s go then! Where’s his place?” Felix undid the straps of the spare helmet hanging from the bike and handed it to Max, “What? Why are you staring at me like that?”

“It’s very kind of you to offer, but you really don’t have to…” Max said, trailing off as he eyed the motorcycle sceptically.

Felix laughed, “It’s faster than walking. And I saw that look on your face when Desmond said Benjamin’s father was back, so I guess it can’t be good. I mean, what, unless you’re scared of this guy?” He patted his bike mockingly, and Max scowled.

“Very well,” Max pulled the helmet on as he mumbled under his breath, “living is overrated anyway.”

Felix laughed again, turning the bike back on as he swung his leg over, “Hold on tight now.”

Max climbed on gingerly behind him, muttering in something that sounded like Latin the whole time, and when he leaned in to brush his fingers on Felix’s jacket, Felix swore he felt something electric run up his spine.

“Tightly,” he repeated, throat suddenly dry, “You know. For safety.”

Behind him, Max sighed, gripping on to Felix’s waist with his hands and _holy-shit those hands are huge and firm and glorious._ Felix’s mind was already going places about what else those hands could touch, and this was both the best and absolute worst thing he had ever brought upon himself.

“I’ll give you directions,” Max said, his voice soft against the back of Felix’s neck and Felix had to stamp down this sudden need to shiver, nodding wordlessly.

Benjamin’s house turned out to fairly close by, the roads passing in a blur with Felix hyper-fixated on the way Max’s hands held on to his waist and the breathy whispers against the nape of his neck. It’s with some painful relief when Max pointed out the small grey house and the bike pulled to a gentle stop. He jumped off, bouncing on the heels of his boots to shake off his growing lust as Max marched towards the front door, the spare helmet already discarded on the backseat of Felix’s bike.

He was just in the middle of strapping the helmet when a large, boorish man opened the door, giving Felix pause. Benjamin’s father stood about a head over Max and was twice as broad, his face twisted in an ugly sneer.

He didn’t quite catch their conversation, but there’s a shout from inside the house and then suddenly Max and the man were arguing. The man raised his arm to Max as if to hit him, and Felix sprinted forward, ready to give him the old Millstone special when Max punched the man in the face, sending him toppling backwards. Felix’s footsteps slowed to a jog, and he watched in a complicated mix of shock, amazement and just a smidge of shameful arousal as Max beat the ever-loving shit out of that gigantic man with his bare hands.

“Felix!” He turned, and Benjamin ambled towards him, carefully slipping around Max while sporting a sickeningly purple bruise over his left eye and a split lip. Felix winced.

“That looks bad – I’ve got a first aid kit on my bike – but, er, is Max going to kill your dad?” Felix said, peeking into the living room where Max was standing over the man, effortlessly delivering a steady stream of punches to his face. Benjamin shrugged with nonchalance, so Felix knocked on the door tentatively, “Max?”

Benjamin’s dad was groaning on the floor, covered entirely in bruises of all shades of purple-black and bleeding from his nose and lip, but Felix found it hard to have sympathy for him. Max looked up, still seething, a small splatter of blood across his cheek.

“Fine,” Max said, and gave Benjamin’s dad one last punch before striding out of the house coolly, “Benjamin.”

Benjamin had already taken to raiding Felix’s tail bag, rummaging around for the first aid kit, “Yep?”

Max sighed, the anger on his face cracking as he gently cradled Benjamin’s face with a hand, “I’m sorry I couldn’t prevent this.”

“Naw, it’s ok. Fuck him, you know.”

“No, it’s not okay,” Max said firmly, “This is in no way acceptable. We can put you up in the church for now. Do you have any other injuries? We should take you to a doctor first.”

“I’m fine, Max. I got a good punch in too – straight to the balls! That’s when he hit my face, but you showed up right then. Great timing, by the way!”

Max sighed, and despite everything, Felix couldn’t resist a smile at Benjamin’s defiant expression.

“I’d be happy to take him to the clinic,” Felix volunteered, and Max shot another dubious look at the motorcycle, disapproval clear as day.

In the end, Max loaded Benjamin into a taxi and told Felix that he’ll see him at the church, if he was still around. So naturally, Felix made his way back there and hung around for several hours more, helping Desmond parade baked goods with weird and wonderful slogans.

“It’s real slice of heaven, you guys,” Felix assured a sceptical group of students while Desmond snorted from beside him, “It will really, er, _cake you away._ ”

The group of students dissolved into giggles, and then one of them eventually relented, “All right, we’ll take a dozen.”

“Nice,” Desmond said, handing out a large paper box to them. “Enjoy your delightfully _divine_ brownie!” He exchanged a high-five with Felix while Edgar came up to them with a long curling list of receipts.

“Guys, the sale’s going really well. I think we’ve made nearly four hundred bucks and we’re basically cleaned out.”

“Is that because of you single-handedly demolishing like, a third of the cookies?” Desmond joked. Edgar rolled his eyes.

“Excuse you, it was more like half of them. And you!” Edgar said suddenly, rounding on Felix, “Why are you here? Didn’t you go off with Max?”

“He had to take Benjamin to the clinic,” Felix said, “Why?”

Edgar scrunched his face up in thought, “Hmm, nevermind. Oh! Benjamin’s here and- _fuck_ , that looks nasty.”

“That’s a dollar in the swear jar, Edgar,” Max said, frowning at Edgar while Benjamin trailed beside him, somewhat patched up and looking just a bit better.

“But Max, you swear _all the time_ ,” Edgar protested to Max’s amusement.

“And I too, strive for self-improvement and pay my dues when I do,” He said before turning to Felix, seemingly pleased, “You’re still here. I had hoped you were.”

“Come on, Benjamin, I saved you a brownie,” Desmond said loudly, and he strode off, dragging Edgar and Benjamin behind him as the three of them sniggered conspiratorially, “Bye!”

“What’s up with them?” Felix asked, squinting at their shrinking forms as they ducked away into the crowd.

Max sighed, “They’re always up to something. I never always know what.”

“Ah, well, kids, you know?” Felix said vaguely, not actually knowing, “So, you wanted to see me?”

“Yes,” Max nodded, offering a smile that crinkled at his eyes, “Thank you for driving me to Benjamin’s place.”

Felix laughed, warm under Max’s attention, “It was nothing, really.”

“Please, let me express my appreciation. Would you be amenable to dinner?”

“Oh, sure!” Felix lit up, “Always up for a free meal. I’m a real easy man – wait, nevermind, forget I said that.”

Max chuckled at that, and wow, was _that_ a wonderful sound, “Seven tonight? There’s a fantastic restaurant on the corner of the town park, if you’re familiar?”

“I think I know the one,” Felix said, recalling his walks around the town square.

“Then I must get back to wrangling my kids. See you later, Mr Millstone,” Max replied with a cocksure smile as he turned away to head off.

Felix put a hand to his chest, wondering what that erratic thumping under his fingers meant.

\---

The restaurant that Max mentioned was easy to spot – there was really only one at the park, after all, and when Felix arrived, he felt slightly self-conscious about how nice it was. Groundbreaker never had anything quite like that, a proper-sit down type kind of place.

“Mr Millstone?” A waiter with an obnoxiously long moustache asked as he approached the entrance.

“That’s me,” Felix said, though his voice came out as a bit more of a nervous squeak than he would have liked, and the waiter nodded, leading him through the restaurant and into the courtyard.

It’s a little space surrounded by a hedge of bushes with a view of the park, strings of light above them illuminating the place. Max was already there, comfortably seated with a book in his hand, a soft warm glow cast on his handsome face. He was dressed in a brilliant jacket of deep blue that brought out his eyes, and as the waiter led them to the table, Max looked up to smile at him, causing Felix’s stomach to flip in some strange funny way.

“Felix,” Max greeted gently as the waiter pulled the chair out for him.

“Hey,” Felix said lamely as he settled into his seat, “You look great.”

“As do you,” Max replied, even though Felix wasn’t wearing anything different from his normal clothes, and he’s suddenly feeling like they were far too many layers because his skin underneath was overheating from the way Max was looking at him.

“This is a nice place,” Felix said as he looked around for a distraction, “How did you manage to get the kids to stay well-behaved enough to not get kicked out? And where are they anyway?”

Max blinked, taken aback, “Oh, no, I- no, it’s just the two of us.”

“Oh,” Felix said with masterful eloquence, “ _Huh._ ”

“I’m sorry,” Max said hastily, “Did I misunderstand?”

“No!” Felix interrupted quickly, not fully sure what Max was saying but feeling like they were tethering dangerously on something not-good, “This is great. Um, no, I mean, this is fine. Not that it’s not great having dinner alone with you. You’re cool. And also, I never said this – but you beating up Benjamin’s dad? I didn’t expect that from a church man, but it was good. You’ve got a mean hook, pastor, and you’re not afraid to use it. I respect that.”

Max smiled, then waved at the menu before them, “Shall we order?”

And it’s nice, really, but as the dinner progressed, Felix had this distinct sense of being watched. It wasn’t at all from the way that Max gave him his undivided attention, which was great and made him warm and hot in a way that was similar to the pooling heat in his lower bits but also not, like it was something more, more consuming and more demanding. Max was all light touches and smiles and despite it being a new kind of confusing, it made him all warm and fuzzy on the inside. Felix dearly wanted to just focus on all of those lovely things and figure it all out, but he just couldn’t shake the way his hair stood on the back of his neck.

Maybe Max, being as attractive as he was, had some secret army of rabid fans waiting to tear Felix a new one for daring to get so close to the pastor. Felix squinted. Oh, he’ll take them on for sure.

“Is everything alright?” Max asked, his fingers reaching out to briefly brush Felix’s hand in a way that made his heart jump several beats faster while the waiter cleared away their plates.

“I’m good,” Something-something-element of surprise, he’s on to those rabid fans, “So, er, this has been nice.”

It almost felt like one of those romantic date things that Parvati was always gushing back at Groundbreaker, but Felix wasn’t about to kid himself. He’s not that dumb.

“I’m glad you feel that way,” Max said, and there’s this tension there, not really in a bad way, more so as if there was something urgent he needed to do, something pressing as they gazed at each other. Felix couldn’t put his finger as to what, because church people were like, celibate and stuff, right?

But Max was looking at him with what felt like yearning even though that couldn’t be right, and Felix was sure he had an equally revealing expression on his own mug. It’s the air around them, he thought, all charged up in wait for _something_ to happen.

Felix shifted in his seat, still trying to feel his way around this new state of affairs. He’s unsure whether he should or shouldn’t be paying attention to the shape of Max’s lips or the way they parted ever so slightly, as if he had something on the tip of his tongue, because that’s certainly how Felix felt, and _oh_ wasn’t this pretty much how Parvati described her date with Junlei?

He’s frowning over that new thought – and hang on what did that mean for him and also was it a sin to lust after a church man – when a shout interrupted him.

“JUST KISS HIM!” A loud bellowing sounded from behind the bushes, startling them and the other diners in the courtyard, and it’s quickly followed by a bunch of voices urgently shushing it.

Max stood up abruptly, the softness in his gaze broken as he strode purposefully towards the bushes, his tone stern in reprimand, “ _Children_.”

Someone shouted “ _shit!”_ and a dozen or so figures scattered in the dark in the other direction of the park, their voices distinctively familiar. Felix laughed when Max returned to their table, red-faced in shame, and he’s suddenly feeling much lighter because, hey, maybe it’s not all so bad.

“Wow, your kids,” Felix started, still in the middle of hysterics, and it’s all so silly and ridiculous, because thank god he wasn’t the only one thinking that exact thing, and thank god someone put that option on the table because he’s never dealt with this sort of fragile hesitation and careful want before.

“Yes.” Max said, eyes closed in annoyance, though the glow that marred his cheeks persisted, and _god_ did Felix want to just lean in to grab Max by the face and kiss the heck out of him. 

“I think they have some good ideas,” Felix said, feeling brave, and maybe he’s not such an idiot after all, maybe he’s not overthinking this whole thing, because Max was looking at him again with those fucking eyes that seemed to spell the same kind of things that Felix felt, and _how did he not see that before?_

“Do they, now?” Max murmured, almost a purr, and Felix laughed as he leaned over the table.

“ _Come on_ ,” Felix said with impatience, hands already reaching out, and when they finally meet it’s around mirthful laughter that ignored the loud cheering behind those damn bushes. 

**Author's Note:**

> Presumably Edgar et all were wandering around the neighbourhood and saw Felix and they were like ho shit that's totally Max's type we gotta set him up and make him happy
> 
> so here we are.
> 
> Come say hi to me on [tumblr](https://vasiktomi.tumblr.com), did I mention I'm susceptible to funny fic prompts?


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